NASCAR's biggest cheating scandal of the 2008 season may finally be coming to a close for the guilty parties.
Joe Gibbs Racing's Nationwide Series crew members Dave Rogers, Jason Ratcliff and five others from the team all look to resume at-track duties at the season's second race in Los Angeles after the team applied for reinstatement last week.
For those with short memories or lazy mouse-clicking fingers, the JGR Nationwide Series No. 18 and No. 20 cars were found to have magnets that prevented the throttle pedal from being fully depressed, leaving skewed numbers for NASCAR to examine during a post-race performance test.
It's a genius plan, really, and if it had worked, JGR and Toyota might have had a nice advantage in the series. But it didn't, and NASCAR wasn't too pleased. They showed it with heavy fines, suspensions and point deductions in the week that followed.
This week, though, JGR crew chief Dave Rogers -- who's still indefinitely suspended from NASCAR -- fully admitted to the cheating.
"I made a mistake, and I owned up to that mistake, and I didn't make excuses," said Rogers.
And for that, you've got to applaud him because it's not too often that NASCAR crew chiefs profess guilt instead of pleading innocence.
Brad Coleman's entry and exit to and from the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with Hall of Fame Racing came to an abrupt halt after just one race, ESPN says.
[Brad] Coleman's fortunes changed quickly [...] According to Hall of Fame Racing, Coleman is now a free agent. He is no longer under contract to Hall of Fame.
Coleman's lone Sprint Cup race came at Michigan International Speedway in August when the 20-year-old driver replaced a fired J.J. Yeley in the No. 96 DLP Toyota. In that event, he started 37th and finished 43rd.
For giggles, I think I'll cite my previous post on Coleman's quick turn up to NASCAR's top division:
Hall of Fame sure isn't a place where a driver is going to go win championships, and knowing that Coleman just might be making a career mistake of jumping in a car that races in the Sprint Cup Series but doesn't compete.
Now I get that "just might be making a career mistake" isn't a "Coleman will be cut after one race"-type prediction, but come on, the writing was on the wall for this kid and his move to a team I wouldn't even drive for if offered the chance.
Yeah, Hall of Shame Fame Racing is just that bad, but this certainly leaves plenty of questions as to why it took so long for word to come out about Coleman.
The penalties included indefinite suspensions for both crew chiefs of the No. 18 and No. 20 cars (Jason Ratcliff and Dave Rogers) as well as five other team members involved in the illicit tampering of the post-race competition testing analysis NASCAR performed Saturday. The term "indefinite" -- to the best of my knowledge -- has never been used by NASCAR for a performance-related suspension.
Point deductions to the tune of 150 driver and owner points for the cars driven by Tony Stewart and Joey Logano were also inflicted, as well as monetary fines to the crew chiefs.
The biggest impact, I think, comes from what the Joe Gibbs Racing team has done about the matter. They've already confirmed that the team members in question will be suspended for at least the remainder of the season and that they will each face internal fines from the company that will be paid directly from their pocket.
Back in 2007, he was none too happy with his pit crew after he deemed they lost two or three races for him early in the season. Sunday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway, Hamlin was disappointed with both the team's performance and other factors that left him with a 39th-place finish.
Just five laps from the end, Hamlin blew an engine to bring out the race's final caution. On a TV interview after coming to the garage, he didn't mince words.
"We came here with a new engine package," Hamlin said. "We're a bubble driver and we've made stupid choices. At this point we don't even deserve to be in the Chase."
You can't really blame the guy and his assessment of the "stupid choices" in that situation. Hamlin would have had a Top-15 finish had his No. 11 not blown up.
Can you imagine what the No. 11 in-car radio traffic sounded like as Hamlin coasted in? Salty would have been a good, descript word I bet.
The 39th-place finish pushed Hamlin to 12th in points -- the edge of the Chase to the Championship cutoff -- and only 26 points ahead of Clint Bowyer and David Ragan who are tied for 13th points-wise.
For two weeks in a row, the crew members on the other side of the pit wall have helped take a good finish out of the hands of a Hendrick Motorsports driver.
Gordon started Sunday's 3M Performance 400 and ran in the Top-10 for most of the race's first 90 laps. On lap 85, Dave Blaney smacked the outside wall on the backstretch to bring out the race's second caution -- bringing the entire field to pit road.
Gordon came to his crew in fourth spot having just run some of his best laps during the previous green flag run. On the ensuing four-tire change, lug nuts fell off one of the wheels and caused a lengthier stop than the other leaders. The result was Gordon coming back on track in 14th position.
During the test, NASCAR officials discovered magnets on the accelerator pedals of the two Gibbs Toyotas. Several sources said the magnets could, in theory, keep the pedals from being fully depressed, which would limit the engines' output and distort the data available to officials.
"This was an attempt to interfere with NASCAR's post-race inspection process, and we are taking it very seriously," said Jim Hunter, vice president of corporate communications for the sanctioning body.
The test measures the horsepower, torque, and other numbers of an engine as it sits inside the race car and by putting a magnet behind the pedal, the numbers NASCAR would get from the test would be incorrect, leading to incorrect conclusions about the parity of the competition.
Brian Vickers made a big statement Friday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway.
The Red Bull Racing driver not only posted the fastest time in practice Friday afternoon, but also put his No. 83 Toyota on the pole in commanding fashion for Sunday's 3M Performance 400 at the track an hour west of Detroit.
Are you in the market for gently-used NASCAR Sprint Cup driver motorhome used for at-the-track lodging, Nintendo Wii-fests during rain delays, and a hiding spot from the media or other angry drivers?
Well, Denny Hamlin is the man you need to talk to.
Hamlin donated such a motor home to Motor Racing Outreach -- the organization that is at the track every weekend providing church services and other help to the NASCAR community -- this week after hearing they were in need of such a vehicle.
"MRO has been a friend to the drivers, teams and everyone affiliated with the sport for a long time so I was really happy to be able to help them out. It seems like everyone in the garage supports MRO in one way or another and they deserve the recognition," Hamlin said.
"By donating my motor home to them I hope it will save them some money in lodging and I think it will really give them the opportunity to do more and more within in the sport. I know we'll all benefit from that - and I am proud to support their efforts."
Don't expect Hamlin to be staying at the local Super 8, though, when NASCAR is in town.
NASCAR's biggest cheating scandal of the 2008 season may finally be coming to a close for the guilty parties.
Remember 
Brad Coleman
For once, NASCAR seems to have stepped up to the plate in regards to issuing penalties for cheating in the sport.
Denny Hamlin
For two weeks in a row, the crew members on the other side of the pit wall have helped take a good finish out of the hands of a 
The NASCAR world may have just found out why 
Are you in the market for gently-used NASCAR 
